On a recent Q&A podcast that I hosted, I was asked about my opinion on discernment ministries. I discussed what I think are some of the major issues with those groups. This video is a short discussion from that program on the topic. View it here. Read more

+++ Post by Nathan Rinne Okay, this post really isn’t about the Duggars, but they are a good hook I think! It, is, however, about the search for female modesty, a topic the Duggars are familiar with. What is modesty? One definition is behavior, manner, or appearance intended to avoid impropriety or indecency. To begin our journey, please consider this extended quotation from Leslie’s Vernick’s The Emotionally Destructive Marriage: Married couples need freedom to thrive. I do not mean the… Read more

Today’s podcast is a discussion of John Frame’s recently published article titled, “Two Models of Divine Transcendence: Pure Being vs. Divine Lordship.” This includes a discussion of classical philosophy, the current debates about Theistic Personalism, and other important topics related to both theology and philosophy. Here is the program. Read more

I just published an article in Conspectus: The Journal of the South African Theological Seminary titled, “The Use of Classical Greek Philosophy in Early Lutheranism.” Here is the abstract: This article is an examination of the use of classical philosophy in the Lutheran tradition from Martin Luther through Johann Gerhard. It focuses particularly on the essentialist philosophies of both Plato and Aristotle as used and modified in these Lutheran writers. The claim made in this article is that though critical… Read more

+++ Post by Nathan Rinne This was a question from a student: The Bible says that God is love. Does that mean that anyone who loves is a good person? Can an atheist love anyone?” I will get to an answer below. First, however, we must focus on some preliminaries, on “the spirit of the age”. In one sense, there is much truth in what this man says… : .ALL your good works…that you can remember doing..STINK to high Heaven.There…. Read more

In recent years, John Frame has chosen to engage in some of the current debates in the Reformed world surrounding Classical Theism and Theistic Personalism. These debates go beyond the Calvinistic Reformation, as they reflect discussions in the broader Christian theological community, whether Presbyterian, Lutheran, or Roman Catholic. In these debates, Frame has placed himself squarely within the “Theistic Personalism” school of thought, being highly critical particularly of Thomistic frameworks of understanding the divine essence and attributes. In his most… Read more

This week’s podcast is a talk from Gene Edward Veith on the topic of the Reformation and its meaning for today. The title of the lecture is The Reformation: Then and Now. In this talk, he discusses some of the major themes of the Lutheran Reformation, and explains why they are still necessary today. Here is the talk Read more

+++ Post by Nathan Rinne Prefatory comment: This post, like the last one on this blog, deals with the issue of domestic violence and domestic abuse (technically, these are different things), which I am also currently doing a series on here. Again, please note that I am representing only myself in this post and do not speak for Pastor Cooper. Trigger warning: This post, which also appears on my own blog this morning as “What does the LC-MS document “When Homes… Read more

Today’s podcast is a Q&A program that covered a large variety of topics. Among them were: discernment ministries, why I don’t like getting into the creation debate, the differences between the AALC and the LCMS, and many other important topics. Here is the program. Here is the video. Read more

+++ Post by Nathan Rinne Note: Per usual, please note that I am representing only myself in this post and do not speak for Pastor Cooper. This post deals with the issue of domestic violence and domestic abuse (technically, these are different things), which I am also currently doing a series on here. (update: I’ve done a second post on this topic on this blog here). First of all, what is the “Duluth Model”? According to a definition found… Read more